dragonplant - I know with mine I was trying to get some pepper seeds to germinate so I put their peat pots on a heating pad (in a tray) then threw in some others that hadn't germinated yet. It had been over two weeks on them so I had low hopes. Covered them all in cellophane to keep in the heat and keep out my cats. The top of the cellophane had a lot of condensation on it so I think my seed got a little confused on where the water was coming from! Poor little confused zucchini! The happy part was that even if it was the only thing to germinate out of the bunch it's growing great now. And I'm re-trying the pepper seeds using a different method that will hopefully work. :-) It certainly is a fun story though - breech birth is a perfect description!! LOL

My mom got a toppsy turvy (whatever its called) for these awesome little orange tomatoes. It sucked at first then I looked at it and realized she set it up wrong. I fixed it and gave is some fert, the thing took off. She overwintered it by hanging it way up in the air to get some key morning sunlight. I steal as many of those tomatoes as possible. fiedlermeister's the man. That was funny. But.. Why not? It's harder for some pests to reach the plant. Much of the growth is helped by gravity. I could use these in places where nothing is growing. For varieties to try in it. I would try cayenne, tabasco, habs or thai. I guess Jals would work. You're gunna want a young plant so it doesn't waste time growing in the wrong direction (but big enough that it clears the bottom!). Hab might be good cause its bushy. All the others are good cause they're fairly adaptable. But dude, try whatever. Peppers are tough. Lets us know how it goes if you do it.

Out of curiosity, I planted Topsy Turvy tomatoes for the first time this year - two plants per planter and I think I'm the only person I know who planted them that is still picking tomatoes. I'll use the method again, but I'll be using the system from the link below, which I have already purchased and have ready to go. Disease usually gets my tomatoes before the frost, and by hanging the tomatoes, I've avoided that problem. I did have to pick off Army Worms, however. I made sure I chose a variety of plant that doesn't get HUGE, nor does it have a large tomato, and grows well in our area (Celebrity). I just thought it made sense for such a small feed and water source. Patio tomatoes, often used in patio planters, would have also been a good choice. I used a moisture-retaining potting soil, and fed the plants regularly. After the first week or so of watering, the soil had settled quite a bit, so I added a LOT of nutrient-rich compost (homemade), which is what I think made a difference from others who were unsuccessful using this method. The first tomatoes started getting blossom-end rot, so I added "soft gypsum" granules to the watering can and added those minerals each watering for a few days. I added it again after the first wave of fruit, when the second wave of blooms came on, and that took care of the blossom-end rot. carol-in-california - The tomatoes are crooked because they are bending towards the sunlight. As they get bigger and fuller, they straighten out a bit. I have chosen the planters from Gardener's Supply Co. for next year because they have improved them to where there is a 1-gallon reservoir for the water (a must-have in our horribly hot and windy summers), and they now have a moisture indicator so you can monitor when to water tomatoes. On the Topsy Turvy I devised a plastic quart bottle as a mini-drip (irrigation). That's also why I think I had success with this method. I'll probably never take up space with tomatoes in my small garden ever again. I'm going to add zucchini and squash to the hanging plants next year. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener's Supply Co.

Thank you all again! There's actually just the one trunk in the pot - well, it has a big branch/secondary trunk coming off it to the left at the bottom, as you can see. Apart from a few seedlings, everything else is the downward pointing limbs I cut off after taking the pic, which had swung upwards again. I think I'm going to leave the second trunk/lower left branch on. It's about as thick as my forearm so I don't want to start hacking it off as I think it might be hard to root (for a beginner anyway!) and I quite like how it looks. Other than that, I think I will follow all your advice and post again once I've taken some off the main plant. I have read as many jade whacking threads as I could get my hands on - so inspiring. Those jades in the thread you linked, Rina, are amazing! I've done what you all suggested with the cuttings, so fingers crossed they will all root! Ez - that is a great point about the pot dimensions. I hadn't really noticed until you mentioned it, but all of the jades I've seen in shallow pots as I've been looking through posts here have been the ones that appealed to me! It's really pleasing somehow. Is it wise to prune roots at the same time as pruning and re-potting, or would you leave it to settle a while and then prune the roots later?